Hey everybody, it's Doctor Jo, and today I'm gonna show you some stretches and exercises
for cervical spondylosis. Let's get started.
Special disclaimer alert. Like always, get
a proper diagnosis, but especially for your neck. There can be a lot of stuff going on.
Make sure you get the right diagnosis first cause some of these movements we're doing,
the stretches and exercises might be contraindicative for certain diagnoses so make sure you get
that right diagnosis before you start any of these. So spondylosis is just a fancy term
for age related wear and tear, degeneration in the spine. So it doesn't sound fun and
a lot of times it's not fun. It just kind of makes it achey, sore, sometimes stiff.
Especially in the cervical area. So getting some motion, stretching everything out, usually
makes it feel a little bit better. So let's start off with just some simple range of motion
exercises where you're gonna start off by turning your head over, almost like you're
looking over your shoulder. But try and keep your head upright. So you're not coming down
like this. You're just turning straight over, looking the other way, hold it for about 10
or 15 seconds, come back nice and smooth the other way. Same thing just holding it, getting
that nice stretch in there. You want to be comfortable, you don't want it to be painful.
And then go back and forth about 5 times. The next one is gonna be a side bending with
your head. So you're gonna go over, but you want to take your ear to your shoulder. You
don't want to take your shoulder to your ear. So you don't want to hunch up like that. Keep
your shoulders nice and relaxed and then just come straight over. So again, it's this movement,
not this movement coming over. So bending over, trying to touch that ear to that shoulder.
Hold it about 10 - 15 seconds and then come back up the other way. You can probably see
a little difference there, and then again do 5 on each side. Then you're gonna do a
flexion extension. So just coming down bringing the chin towards the chest, holding it there
again 10 - 15 seconds. And then come back up looking at the ceiling 10 - 15 seconds.
Now if you have any kind of dizziness issues, be very careful about coming up looking at
the ceiling. So maybe not coming up quite as high until you make sure you don't get
dizzy when you do that. And again 5 times, 10 - 15 seconds. Now going in to some exercising,
we're going to do the isometric movements. Which is you're making the movement, but you're
preventing yourself from moving. You're pushing in to your hand that you have there. So again,
we're gonna go back to that rotation, side-to-side, but this time just place your hand on your
temple and gently push in to it. So your head's not really moving, but you're giving it just
a little bit of pressure activating those muscles. Hold it for 3 - 5 seconds. Switch
sides. And then again, do 5 on each side. With the head bending, then same thing. So
now you're gonna push down that way, so it's gonna be that movement. Pushing in and coming
back. And the same thing on the other side. Just doing that movement, but not really going
anywhere. And then coming down towards your chest, just place your palm on your forehead
and then push inwards. Holding it for that 3 - 5 seconds, and then placing your hand
on the back of your head and pushing like you're going up that way. 3 - 5 seconds. Now
you're gonna do some more stretches, You're gonna go in to stretching those trapezius
muscles which are the ones ion the back that kind of hold that neck area in to place. So
those are the big ones. There's a lot of little ones in the inside and then there's the big
ones on the outside. So to stretch your trap, sometimes you can just push your hand down,
I like sitting on it cause it holds that shoulder into place so you can get more of a stretch.
And then just take your hand, kind of hold it on the opposite side, and gently pull over
to the side. Holding that stretch for about 30 seconds. Now, again, try and keep your
head in that alignment going this way, not turning your head this way or that way, and
just pulling over. So again, doing that for 30 seconds, switch sides. And then do that
3 times on each side. Then the last stretch is gonna be the levator scapula stretch, which
is that mean one in the back that a lot of time gives you that trigger point right there.
A lot of times you can just press and go 'oh, that's the spot.' And the reason those are
usually so sore is because when you're stressed you kind of hold your shoulders up like this.
And those levator are the ones that elevate the scapula back there. So a lot of times
if you're like this, it ends up over working those muscles. The way to stretch these muscles
in an interesting way. So the side you want to stretch, you're gonna take that hand and
just kind of put it on the back of your shoulder where that scapula is. So your elbow is kind
of either going straight up if you have a lot of flexibility there, or just up at about
a 45 degree angle. Take your other hand and put on the back of your head, up and back.
And you're gonna go down at an angle like you're looking at your opposite knee. So not
straight forward, not all the way out to the side like the trap, but at that 45 degree
angle. So coming over like that and try and keep that other side up as high as you can.
You should feel a little stretch through there. And the more you pull, the more of a stretch
you'll get. So again, holding that for about 30 seconds, and then do 3 on each side. So
then switch sides, over towards the other knee, and then holding it there. There you
have it, those were your stretches and exercises for cervical spondylosis. If you have any
questions, leave them in the comments section. If you'd like to check out some other videos,
go to AskDoctorJo.com Don't forget to like us. And remember, be safe, have fun, and I
hope you feel better soon.